Garlan Garner
Banned
But congestion at the SuperChargers isn't Teslas problem.Just to remind all you people arguing about proper behavior at superchargers, when it becomes necessary Tesla can implement any protocol they want to. They know everything. They control everything.
- they know if you're in the middle of a trip and (usually) where you are headed
- they know where you live
- they know your charging patterns
- they know exactly how often you charge unnecessarily at local chargers
- they know how busy the charger is currently
- they know how many cars are on their way to the charger and what their state of charge is
- they control how fast (and whether) the chargers will charge your car
- they control whether you can even drive into a charger space
- they control whether you have to stay with your car to have it charge
- they control how much they charge your on file credit card when they charge your car
- they control your car's response to auto-park and summon
- they control whether your car can be unplugged regardless of whether the key fob is present
Just about the only relevant thing Tesla doesn't control right now is physically plugging in and unplugging your car. Perhaps they'll solve that with robots, or with replacing the supercharger infrastructure with inductive chargers that don't require direct connection. Maybe they'll just post valets at troublesome locations -- that's a fairly cheap solution while the tech is under development. I don't pretend to know.
It's pretty clear to me that when this becomes a big issue they can selectively implement whatever protocols they like. For the 95% of superchargers where there's no problem they can just leave things alone. And for exceptional cases, they can always provide a nice big button on the screen saying "If you think we've messed up in your case, just press here to talk to a person...." Then you can tell them that there's electrical work being done at your place and so it's necessary that you charge at the supercharger for a few days. But they'll have a pretty good idea that you're lying when you try that excuse more than a few times.
There are so many options for Tesla with regards to supercharger congestion that it's just not a real long-term problem. Right now, with just a couple of small software changes they could implement the following solution:
- if you're local, you are restricted to stalls 1A and 1B at busy times (other stalls just don't work for you)
- if you wish to use a different stall, the cost is $5 (or whatever) to your card on file
- if you are at the beginning or end of a long trip and the charging is necessary then the charge is refunded
- if you overstay, the cost is $1 per minute (or whatever) to your card on file
Many other approaches could work too. This is just an example.
They are neither making nor losing and significant money at SuperChargers. I'm shocked that they put anyone at a Super Charger station to do anything.
If I were Tesla I would let the public do whatever they do at SC facilities.
I would just sit back and watch the clown show as $80k car owners fight and fuss over $1.70 in electricity.
Last edited: